Ingredients

1
baguette, cut into cubes, toasted

½
cup water

1
cup white sugar

1
sticks butter (4 ounces)

2
cup 35% whipping cream

2
cup milk

4
eggs

1
tsp nutmeg

1
tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350F.

2. Cut the baguette into cubes using a serrated knife. Spread the cubes in an even layer on a baking tray. Bake and toast until golden brown, about 20 minutes. This will add lots of toasted flavour and dry the bread out so it can easily absorb the pudding mixture.

3. Meanwhile pour the water into the middle of a saucepot. Add the sugar into a small, tight pile in the center of the water then begin heating over a high heat. Don’t stir! The water and sugar will quickly dissolve together and form simple syrup. As the heat increases it’ll begin simmering and steaming and the water will gradually evaporate. Once it’s gone the steam will die down and the temperature will begin to rise past the boiling point of water leaving behind a pure melted sugar syrup. As the heat continues to rise the sugar will start to turn pale golden. When you see the first hint of colour, gently swirl the pan to keep the colour even. When it’s a deep golden brown add the butter and whisk it in until the sauce is smooth. This will drop the caramels temperature out of the sugar browning range. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream, stirring until smooth. Add the milk, vanilla, nutmeg and eggs and whisk until smooth.

4. Stir the toasted bread into the pudding mixture, letting it rest for a few minutes as it absorbs the mixture. Pour into a 9x13-inch baking pan, sprinkle with white sugar and bake for 45 minutes.